what i've been up to

spinning...
this is so addictive! this is turning out to be about a sport weight. that is my guess anyway. not too bad for my first time spinning. i still have a ton of fiber to go. i am debating on using some of what is left to spin two batches of singles and making some two ply later. i am curious about what it will look like. so more on that to come.

knitting...

slowly plugging away at Anne Elliot Spencer for my sister-in-law. if it wasn't on such small needles (US1) i would be done by now. all things aside, it really is a nice knit and will make a really cute top for her.

finishing...

awesome buttons for my swingy sweater. it is hard to tell but these are a deep pink with gold marbled through them.


they are going to look great on this...

after it is blocked and the ends are woven in.

roving

superwash merino

color : venice

from : natural obsessions

can't wait to use this.

but i am going to have to.

i want to spin it into fingering weight.

back to practice.

While I was sick...

I read this...

There are some truly wonderful projects in here. You need to get ahold of a copy.

I got this in the mail...

my merino/bamboo roving from knititup.

here it is upclose. it is glorious. i can't wait to try and spin it.

i also read this...

so that i could spin this...

merino superwash in Hydrangea. fiber addict enabler sent along with the merino/bamboo by knititup! how wicked!

so i spun it into this...


merino singles! my first spinning attempt!


so i bought some of this...

BFL from Fearless Fibers in a color called deep space.

and i plied-on-the-fly this...

3 ply BFL. kind of thick, but wow this was super easy.

so i tried for thinner...

and then plied-on-the-fly again...

comparison.

verdict: spinning with a drop spindle...

fun.

spinning super thin 3 ply...

hard...

but fun.

ply-on-the-fly is so nice. i can spin and ply all at the same time which means knitting it up sooner, but how do i get it nice and thin?

i am hoping to get more of a fingering weight.

more practice i guess.

wondering

do you ever just sit and look at your stash in the sunlight?

do you ever just sit and look at another's stash on ravelry?

right now i am drooling over sourcherries and abacus' stashes?

their handspun and regular stashed yarns are so gorgeous!

Project Spectrum : Green

green books

Institches by Amy Butler

Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick

Greetings from the Knit Café by Suzan Mischer

Amy Butler's Midwest Modern by Amy Butler

back on the needles

almost finished with the body of the swingy sweater.

roving

ok. so i have been looking at youtube for how to use my drop spindle, that i don't have enough roving to do much with, and i have concluded that i NEED more roving. So on to etsy.

i bought 8 oz. of superwash merino in a color called venice and...

3 oz of bamboo/merino in milk and honey.

can't wait for it to get here so that i can try this stuff out! and wish me luck because i really have no idea what to do yet.

Goodies

Warning photo heavy post!

Project : Pomatomus by Cookie A.

started / completed : April 2009

yarn : Gyspy Girl

color : blue Hawaii

needles : US2

i love this sock! the pattern is great especially with this sock yarn and color. i originally made this with my sister in mind, but I do believe that these are going to mom this sunday for her birthday.

i even love the heel!

i went to JoAnn Fabrics over easter break and picked up some goodies for upcoming projects.

fat quarters for some kind of bag.



egyptian cotton and batik for a skirt like assemblage's.

she is my style guru! i love everything she makes and want one for myself. i hope she doesn't mind. if you don't read her blog, you need to go check it out.

this is some indigo denim for some fisherman pants. pattern from burda style.

but again inspired by assemblage.

i also spotted this magazine and couldn't resist. i love that scarf on the front.

and t does wool has a wonderful version of the scarf to check out.

i also got my blog contest winning gift from stardustshoes!

i cool bag and some seduce by berroco. the yarn is great so soft and smooth and very thin. amazingly enough this yarn uses US 7 needles. it is like fingering weight though and there is about 100 yds of the stuff! and the bag is wonderful. it can hold sooo many goodies!

yarn from nepal!

yarn : a greater gift

content : 100% hand dyed sheep's wool

single ply (azo free dye)

Yardage: 160yd

colors : orange, purple and pink

i have been assisting a long term substitute here at the school because she was having difficulty controlling one of her classes. (the kids seem to think that if they don't like a teacher they don't have to do anything they say! i think that it is atrocious! i they know that i won't stand for that behavior so while i am in the room with them she gets a little peace. it is kind of sad that they act that way) well, she leaves on friday so she got me this gift as a thank you for giving up my prep period to help her out. i told her it was completely unnecessary but i do love the yarn.

birthday gift from the mother-in-law... a drop spindle and some sample wool (from oak meadow alpaca farm in walkerton, indiana) to practice.

i had mentioned that i would like to learn to do that sometime, so she bought one! love her!

know i need to google how to do it. and buy some roving!

the sample wool. sorry i have no idea what it is!

more tomorrow!

Happy 33rd Birthday to me!

Today is my birthday! Yeah!

Things that occurred on my birthday:

Abe Lincoln died.

Tax Day.

The Titantic sunk.

The first McDonald's opened in Illinois.

I really think that my birthdate seems to be a magnet for bad things! I mean come on not one of those things are good. Well tax day sort of, we got money back.

Lots of things have been going on around here. The weather has just been to crappy for photos. So stayed tuned to see all the goodies that I have to show you all.

more yarn

So my sister-in-law saw me knitting the other day and requested another item. So I had her search Rav for her favorite thing and this ...

Knit Picks Essential Kettle Dyed in soot

is going to become this...

Anne Elliot Spencer by CanarySanctuary.

Of course, this is after I finish Pomatomus and possibly another pair of socks as well. All of which will take forever because they are on impossibly small needles!!

a new knit ring

So in this post I talked about how I made a fabric ring to help keep my finger from being abused by my knitting style. Well, it has already worn out! So I decided that I needed something that would hold up a little better.

Project : Knit ring

started / completed : 3 April 2009 (took about 10 minutes)

materials : buckskin, heavy duty brown thread

I had bought a buckskin a couple of years back at Ft. Wayne, Indiana's Johnny Appleseed Festival. It is a big outdoor craft show. They also have an 1840s camp, that is where I got the buckskin.

Ok, for you city slickers, buckskin is a deer hide that has been soften; nowadays by using chemicals. I bought it hoping to make a cool skirt out of it but unfortunately there wasn't enough there in good shape. You see when the deer is skinned, if the skinner isn't careful, they can trim too much away which makes holes in the long run. This one had too many. So I used a very small amount to make this ring.

Basically, I cut my ruined fabric ring in half, placed it on the buckskin, cut around the ring, trimmed the edges to a slight curve, stretched the buckskin a little and marked where it stretched to, stitched in place, and voilá.

Perfect!

Burb clothes

I needed another present for the baby shower to go along with the shoes, so I made a couple of burp clothes. I love this fabric pattern. I think that it just looks good for a kid. I got it in the mail in the fat quarter trade that went on over at Sew! Mama! Sew!

Ok, so how I made them. I went out to Wal-mart and bought a package of cloth diapers, washed them and then was completely disappointed by how thin they were. How did Gerbers expect these to catch anything! Anyhoo, I was just going to put a strip of material down the middle of the cloth where it is the thickest but that wasn't going to work considering how thin they were. So I took the sides and folded them in to the edge of the heavy part in the middle. Then I cut the fabric 2 inches wider than the diaper, folded the 2 inches in so that the material was slightly smaller than the edges.

Next, I folded a bit of fabric over the short ends of the diaper where I had folded them in. I just didn't like the fact that you could see that I had folded the sides in. So I just tucked the fabric up over the sides that were folded in. Then I sewed them really close to the edge so that the two side were held tight together. You can't even tell that I folded the sides in! So it worked well. I basically used a running stitch all the way around, close to the edge to attach the fabric.

The best part: the shoes look good with the burp clothes!

Project : Baby burp cloth

Pattern: basically mine

Fabric : from fat quarter trade (one fat quarter made 2 burp clothes)

Materials : Gerbers cloth diapers, thick thread, one fat quarter

Handstitched.